Did the italians give in to the terrorists?

Source:CNN


ROME, Italy -- Controversy continues to surround reports that the Italian government paid a ransom to free two female aid workers held hostage in Iraq for three weeks.

An enthusiastic crowd of family, friends and reporters greeted Simona Torretta and Simona Pari, both 29, when they arrived in Rome late Tuesday.

The two walked off a plane at Ciampino Airport in Rome, where they faced the glare of camera flashes and shouts of "Simona, Simona."

"The kidnappers treated us well, and they even apologized at the end," Torretta said.

Friends and colleagues unveiled a huge peace flag outside the Rome office of Bridge to Baghdad -- the humanitarian organization the women worked for -- and handed out flowers to passers-by.

The release came less than a week after an Islamic Web site claimed the women had been killed.

Torretta and Pari were taken hostage when their office in Baghdad was raided by insurgents on September 7, police said. They were released with two of their Iraqi colleagues, but details of the release remained sketchy.

Italian authorities disputed reports that a ransom was paid for their release, and Italian intelligence officials said there had been intensive negotiations through mediators. Those sources also indicated that "some money" may have changed hands.

Gustavo Selvo, the head of an Italian parliamentary foreign affairs commission, told reporters he believed a ransom of about $1 million was paid -- despite government denials.

Selvo, a member of the National Alliance, a partner in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservative government, told France's RTL radio: "The lives of the girls was the most important thing.

"In principle, we shouldn't give in to blackmail but this time we had to, although it's a dangerous path to take because, obviously, it could encourage others to take hostages, either for political reasons or for criminal reasons."

Berlusconi denied any ransom was paid, but most Italians who talked to CNN on the streets were not concerned -- and in fact said they believed there was a ransom paid.

"Whatever politics there might be behind this, let's put it behind us," one man said.

A front-page editorial in the Rome daily La Repubblica said a "ransom was paid and that is nothing to be ashamed of." Another paper, Il Messaggero, said as much as $20 million could have been paid.

"Finally, a moment of joy," Berlusconi said Tuesday night. "This has been a terrible story, an anxious time for all the country -- all fathers, mothers of Italian daughters -- but it has concluded in a totally positive way."

The humanitarian group that the two women worked for began operating in Iraq at the end of the first Gulf War in 1991 with the goal of lifting the U.N. embargo against Iraq.

Torretta had been in Iraq for at least a year and Pari arrived just a few months ago. Both worked on a UNICEF-linked project to help rebuild schools.

'New era of understanding'
Their release of the two Italians raised hopes in Britain for the release of kidnapped engineer Kenneth Bigley, 62, who was shown in a video on Wednesday pleading for his life.

"We are all heartened by this," his brother Paul Bigley was quoted as saying Wednesday by The Times newspaper. "I am overjoyed for their families."

Meanwhile, kidnappers of two French journalists in a statement have praised France's "positive steps toward the Iraqi people," a sign that the hostage-takers may be softening their position.

In an e-mailed statement also posted on a discussion board of the Islamic Army in Iraq, the group said it hoped "this is a beginning for a new era of understanding our issues and respect of our constants."

The statement did not refer to the French captives, journalists Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot.

Meanwhile, an Egyptian telecommunications company said four of six employees taken hostage in Iraq last week were released unharmed Tuesday. Orascom Telecom Holding said two of its engineers remain in captivity.

Since April, militant groups in Iraq have seized more than 100 foreign hostages. Most have been released, but about 30 have been killed.

At least seven Italians have been kidnapped in recent months in Iraq and two of them subsequently killed, including journalist Enzo Baldoni.

[ 09-29-2004, 01:20 PM: Message edited by: dplax ]

Thanks for providing encouragement, and financial means to let this kind of $#*! continue. I'm glad the women were released, but this has to be lunacy on par with Spain's withdrawal, and the Philipines capitulation to terrorist demands, it will only cause more bloodshed, help them buy more weapons, or otherwise come back to bite the free world in the ass.

Many of the kidnappings in Iraq are being performed for pecuniary gain. Some of the kidnappers are criminals, not terrorists, taking a page from the South American cartel playbook. They will then sell the kidnapped victim to EITHER the jihadists OR the home country/family.

I tell ya, kidnapping with a bidding war -- now there's a new twist.

Thanks for providing encouragement, and financial means to let this kind of $#*! continue. I'm glad the women were released, but this has to be lunacy on par with Spain's withdrawal, and the Philipines capitulation to terrorist demands, it will only cause more bloodshed, help them buy more weapons, or otherwise come back to bite the free world in the ass. </font>[/QUOTE]<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#00FF00">Can't money be tracked to an extent? If so is the willingness to hand over money for hostages a result of the fact that if they put the money in a bank have a chance to hunt down the criminals after. The hostages are worth more than just a few coins. It is political demands that governments are not suppose to back down from.</font>

[ 09-30-2004, 11:07 AM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

Payment of ransom and subsequent capture of criminals is the model used by the US in South America and in domestic kidnappings in the US. You may note one can buy insurance policies for these things.

Bringing us to the question, "how much is a life worth?" I bet the families and friends of those young women were glad to see their tax dollars go to such a tangible cause (buying their freedom, not supporting criminals or terrorists; it's all how you spin it).

I know I'd be pretty unhappy with my government if they didn't try as hard as possible to get our people back alive. Considering how much money has been wasted over the years, 20 mil is a drop in the bucket. I like my fellow citizens to have their heads attached. ;)

I think somebody's been having the "valuation of life" discussions in his tort class lately. ;)

(Psst... Aerich, here's a secret come test time: a mutilated, suffering, permanently-injured live victim is worth more to a tort lawyer than a dead victim, any day.)

[ 09-30-2004, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

I know. Disgusting, isn't it?

If I'm badly mutilated, paralysed, or suffering from a terminal disease, my motto will be "give me euthanasia or give me death!" ;)

But first cut my family a big fat check. [img]graemlins/heee.gif[/img]

Yeah, now terrorists know how to get the better of Spain. If Italy paid for the release, then they are in for some more surprises down the road. I know that I would never be taken hostage. You won't see me being drug through the streets, or burned alive, or beheaded with a saw, or hung from a bridge, or shot in the forhead with my hands tied behind my back, or any of the other so called "honorable" things these cowardly masked men who outnumber a single tied up person are doing. I will die standing up and taking as many with me as possible.

Like Denzel said in "Man On Fire"...It's between them and God, I'm just here to arrange the meeting. I know I can be stubborn on this stuff, but damnit we need to be. America is plagued by liberals who are going to drag us down. If we would only do what we NEED to do, this crap can be avoided, or have a better chance of it anyway. I blame NATO. Can't shoot someone with a .50 caliber weapon...sorry turret gunner, you are there to look pretty unless they have a vehicle to shoot. PSH!!